New Year's Food Traditions Around the World

On New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, we’re really toasting to a few different events: the triumph of a good year, one for the books; the relief of a bad year, finally finished; and the hopes and dreams attached to the brand new 12 months that are about to unfold, hopefully in spectacular fashion. What kind of feast does this trifecta celebration warrant?

Around the world, foods on the holiday table are symbolic, laden with eaters’ wishes for the new year. Many traditional dishes appear because they’re thought to bestow happiness, prosperity, health, sweetness, and luck.

Around the world, foods on the holiday table are symbolic, laden with eaters’ wishes for the new year.

Some traditions revolve less around the food itself than the act of eating it with people—friends, acquaintances, those with whom you had squabbled but hope to improve relations soon, and even the president. In 1791, George Washington began hosting open-house parties known as “levees,” according to Cathy K. Kaufman, a food historian. At the parties, “any properly dressed person, with a letter of introduction, could—without an invitation—drink punch and nibble cake with the President.” That’s the New Year’s feast as an excuse to establish or re-establish important ties.

And of course, some traditional food isn’t symbolic of anything. If the new year is occasion to party, to drink and dance and joyously stay up all night, then the food served just has to be indulgent—or, better yet, expensive.

We’ve rounded up the staples of New Year’s spreads from around the globe, so you can take inspiration from the world’s annual epicurean traditions, and maybe cook up some of the quintessential recipes yourself.

Needless to say, all of them pair perfectly with champagne.

Japan

The food: Japanese rice cakes (mochi)—made from pounded, steamed rice and filled with sweet bean paste—are offered to the gods at New Year’s. And that’s just the appetizer. The traditional Japanese feast at this time of year is built around foods that promise good fortune. Among them: kuromame (sweet black beans), kazunoko (herring roe), and kobumaki (rolled kelp), according to the Asia Society. Both soba noodles (long in length) and shrimp (with a curved shape, like the back of an old person) augur a long life for the eater.
The recipe:Toshikoshi Soba

Iran

The food: The Persian New Year, Norouz, falls in the spring, around the time of the vernal equinox, so the emphasis is on rebirth. There’s a tradition of setting the table—called the haft-seen table—with seven symbolic dishes ranging from vinegar (for patience and love), to apples (health and beauty). Throughout the Middle East, pomegranates show up on New Year’s tables, promising abundance and fertility, as does a frittata of greens called kuku. The fresh herbs are for new beginnings, while a surprise appearance by dried berries portends a sweet year.
The recipe:Kuku (Herb, Fruit, and Walnut Omelet)

United States

The food: Many of the New Year’s traditions here originate in the special allowances made to slaves by plantation owners in the antebellum South. Extra meat and liquor were doled out, since it was a special occasion, and from that extra food came Hoppin’ John, a mix of beans, greens, and rice. The beans represented luck, and people believed prosperity would come from the rice, which swelled like a rich man’s wallet during cooking. The greens, the color of money, would bring about wealth, too.
The recipe:Hoppin’ John

Russia

The food: In Russia, the New Year’s table wobbles under the weight of tons of food. The tradition here has a lot to do with abundance—big platters of salads, meats, and hot pies. A herring salad called selyodka pod shuboi features salted herring beneath cake-like layers of grated carrots, eggs, and beets—it's a necessity on every holiday table. Caviar on blinis, an indulgent appetizer, is a also a classic recipe to borrow from the Russians for your soirée.
The recipe:Herring under a Fur Coat

China

The food: Dumplings shaped like old Chinese silver ingots are said to bring prosperity into the new year. Of course, the Chinese New Year is celebrated a bit later than the Gregorian calendar's, and the celebration lasts for a couple of weeks, not just one night. If you’re taking inspiration from the Chinese feast on December 31, the first step is to squeeze an absolute ton of food into the feast—that’s tradition. Other highlights include oranges and tangerines for luck, noodles for longevity (as in Japan), and whole fish for unity and abundance.
The recipe:Jiaozi (Pork & Leek Dumplings)

Mexico

The food: In a tradition imported from Spain, Mexicans gulp down grapes at midnight—an even dozen, for the strokes of the clock and the months of the year. Tamales are a typical celebration food on Christmas and at the New Year—more because they require a group effort to assemble than for any particularly symbolic reason.
The recipe:Pork Tamales

Ireland

The food: For at least a few centuries, the Irish have called New Year’s Eve Oiche na Coda Moire, or “The Night of the Big Portion.” In a custom meant to vanquish hunger and yield plenty in the year ahead, households baked enormous cakes, smashed them, then gathered up the crumbs and ate them. Ingesting a big feast on New Year’s satisfies the same superstition, warding off starvation. The following day, to show off one's triumph over hunger, the Irish would place buttered bread outside the front door, giving January 1 the name “Day of Buttered Bread.”
The recipe:Irish Raisin Bread

France

The food: In France, the evening’s celebration is called le réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre. A réveillon is a long dinner, once held at home with family but now often hosted by restaurants, too. All the traditional French festive foods make an appearance at the party, including the tower of cream puffs called croquembouche, seen also at Christmas and weddings.
The recipe:Croquembouche

Germany

The food: Cabbage looms large in German New Year’s eating. Why? As in a couple other countries’ traditions, the more greens you eat, the more prosperous the year ahead will be. Collards and other greens work as well as cabbage. Either way, the vegetable is often paired with pork—pigs are supposedly progressive animals, since they scratch their feet forward in the dirt, and we humans should also move forward in the year to come.
The recipe: Pork Shoulder with Sauerkraut

Holland

The food: Two of the main delicacies, apple fritters and oliebollen (oily balls), reflect an old tradition of serving round or ring-shaped foods. These bring luck, so it’s said, because of the symbolism embedded in a completed circle—evidence that the year has run its full course. Both treats definitely fit into the indulgent category, too: they're deep-fried, covered in sugar, and packed with sweet fruits.
The recipe:Oliebollen

Italy

The food: Lentils, thought to resemble coins, portend prosperity in the new year. They also have the 'round shape = good luck' thing going for them. Paired with sausage, they make a rich main. In Italian New Year’s feasts, that hearty indulgence is capped by a traditional sweet called chiacchiere—balls of pasta dough that have been fried, soaked in honey, and dusted with confectioners’ sugar.
The recipe:Lentils & Sausage

India

The food: The Hindu new year is celebrated in South India in the spring. At the table, there’s plenty of sweet stuff, like foods with jaggery (raw palm, cane, or date sugar), while on the savory end there are platters of rice and lentils (the lentils’ coin-like shape hints at future prosperity). That feast extends to special occasions and get-togethers, according to Chitra Agrawal, author of the ABCD’s of Cooking.
The recipe:Chitranna

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